Karls - longtime shoe store eccentric still fighting

   It has been 10 years since Ludwig Karls' rather unique shoe emporium went up in flames.
  The ramshackle store was known for its stacks of shoes precariously mounted in every imaginable spot and its abrasive owner who'd bark out at customers without the slightest hesitation.
   The store stood at 4259, on the east side of the Main just north of Rachel, since 1936 but in February 2002 its days came to a sudden end when the building was torched by a knife-wielding man who lived a block away.
   Along with the store, 10 residents were forced out of the building, which Karls owned.   
   Karls had a history of conflict with the fire department, which had deemed his business a fire hazard. The dispute began in 1994 and focused on some structural stuff which they had deemed unsafe, although they certainly noticed that he simply left piles of shoes lying around any old place, probably not the safest practice.
   Those visiting the store were in for a bizarre experience. Legend had it that if you'd carry a pair of shoes to him asking if he had it in black, he'd take the shoes and tell you to wait while he checked. He'd then return with the same shoes now freshly spray painted black.
   He was also known to have other spontaneous outbursts, yelling at customers from across the store ARE YOU GOING TO BUY THOSE SHOES?
   Karls' big passion appears to be engaging in civil lawsuits. He told me at the time that he had challenged an $8,000 building repair with a contractor and not only did he lose, but a judge forced him to pay a whopping $43,000.
  After that abortive attempted repair, his store was declared a fire hazard and he was not allowed in, although sometimes he'd sit out in front in a lawn chair and furtively fetch shoes inside to sell to passersby.
   He eventually reopened with the blessings of the authorities but when the blaze hit, he claimed that he lost everything, as he was uninsured.
   Karls is still around a decade later and still a regular in court, but he doesn't always win his cases.
   He's batting .500 in his attempts to get his property evaluation rolled back at his home in Hampstead, winning a reduction in 2005 but losing the same battle in 2009.
   Karls, along with three other defendants, was sued by a realtor and in 2009 and the group was ordered to pay up part of $18,000, which included punitive damages, related to the sale of the former Karls property.  
   He has also lost small claims suits of as little as $239.
   Karls is listed as co-defendant in his home ownership dispute with someone named Yvonne Sebag Karls, who is presumably his wife. I don't know if she is part of the extremely litigious landlording Sebags who have a pattern of taking tenants to the rental board even before the 23 days have elapsed.
   Technically the Sebags, as landlords can bring a tenant to the rental board for non-payment on the second of the month but few do, as a judge won't order an eviction unless the request is filed before the 23rd. If the tenant pays before that date, he will have a $75 bill to pay to the landlord for opening the file. It's quite legal and I've done it myself, but it's an aggressive approach to rent collection that few landlords employ, as it leaves a lot of bad feelings.
    I could not interview Karls for this research as I can no longer find his number listed, but would be happy to hear from him if he reads this.